PixlBit

                         

   Thanksgiving ended for me on Friday after I watched my nephew play the iOS game Vector. You free run your way across obstacles on the tops of buildings and inside rooms from left to right in 2D as gun toting enemies try and catch up to you.  You use your finger to swipe in various directions to jump, slide, or run faster. The characters and obstacles are all dark but the backgrounds have color.  Visually it looks a lot like Exit and the action is similar to Mirror’s Edge but in 2D. One day I’ve got to get a iOS device to try out such games.

                   

    I got to the area in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team where you learn to slow and speed up time so you can jump father and higher or run really fast. I think it’s funny that the game sound also changes speed. You use the stylus on the bottom screen which shows the sleeping Luigi and touch different parts of his face to change the game speed. It works really well and adds yet another interesting gameplay mechanic to a game already rich in that department. So far as I can tell though, you can only use this ability in the dream world.

     In Mass Effect Foundation #5, Cerebus Officer Miranda Lawson and former Alliance Marine Jacob Taylor are looking for Shepard’s body in the Terminus System where Shepard’s ship, The Normandy, was destroyed. Miranda is certain Shepard’s body is being held in stasis by someone. In their investigations, it becomes clear someone is out to stop them. That’s when the trouble begins. The writing by Mass Effect video game script writer Mac Walters is sharp and clear and the art by Matthew Clark, Drew Geraci and Michael Atiyeh is colorful and cleanly scifi, fitting in very well with the art of the games. This is a very solid issue in this 12 part series.

    I picked up Fortune Street for the Wii. It is a video board game that has had many releases in Japan, this being the first one for North America. It is very similar to Monopoly in that you buy and sell properties as you move around the board, but adds features such as the ability to buy stock. Best of all, it features characters from the Dragon Quest, Mario, and Final Fantasy games. I love board games, especially video ones, and so had to have this. I’ve heard the matches are a bit long and the AI players are a pain, but that is no different from the very similar Culdcept series, and I love those games.  

    I’m off to play some Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus this evening. I’m hoping to finish it tonight because I’m about to switch to Halo: Spartan Assault on XBLA. That’s my game for December and I can’t wait for it to drop. I wish there were hard release dates for Xbox Live games. I never know exactly what is coming out until the very week of release. That’s very annoying.